Day: April 28, 2023

Addis Ababa April 28/2023 ‘Invest Ethiopia 2023’ international investment forum held in Addis Ababa for the last three days under the theme “Invest and Grow in Ethiopia – The Land of Attractive Investment Opportunities,” has successfully been concluded today.

The forum has brought together investors, business leaders, policymakers, and entrepreneurs from around the world to explore and unlock investment opportunities in Ethiopia.

More than 600 new foreign direct investors have attended the forum that attracted several new investment projects.

In her closing keynote speech, Minister of Planning and Development, Fitsum Asefa said the forum creates incredible opportunity to showcase Ethiopia’s investment opportunities.

She added that discussion held during the forum provide valuable insight for investors about Ethiopia’s investment potential.

“Interactive panel discussion, B2B and networking and others were good opportunities for the investors to know more about Ethiopia.”

‘Invest Ethiopia 2023’ has helped the nation to showcase the most promising investment opportunities in Ethiopia, such as manufacturing, agriculture, energy, ICT, healthcare, transport and logistics, tourism and other emerging sectors.

The Ethiopian government is working on reform agenda and committed to create easy doing business environment for the investors, the minister stressed.

Homegrown economy to be launched soon promotes the private investment, she added.

The Minister explained about the immense potential of Ethiopia investment and invited investors to invest in the country.

It is indicated that similar international investment forum will continue next year and such engagements will also continue.

According to the Ethiopian Investment Commission, Ethiopia has attracted more than 4.1 billion USD Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in 2021 and continued as the top FDI destination in East Africa.

The IMF has forecasted that Ethiopia will grow by 13 percent in 2023 and will be among the three fastest growing economies in Africa, the commission pointed out.

Ethiopia is the 3rd largest economy in sub Saharan Africa with a GDP of 156 billion USD.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The energy investment environment of Ethiopia and the services of the Investment Commission all indicate that the nation is ready and open for business, the Executive Director of African Energy Now said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, African Energy Now Executive Director Moritz Weigel said there is a huge untapped potential of renewable energy across the continent as this potential is now increasingly used by many countries in Africa.

In this regard, Ethiopia’s plan to foster more investment in solar, wind and geothermal energy sources is encouraging, he added.

Ethiopia is one of the countries in Africa endowed with abundant renewable energy resources but where energy resources are underexploited.

The country has, however, been undertaking comprehensive reforms to attract investment into its renewable energy sector.

Regarding the business climate for energy, the executive director pointed out that the regulatory frameworks, policy frameworks, the enabling environment for international investment are all in place and ready in the country.

Weigel praised Ethiopia for opening the renewable energy sector for business. “We have seen that the Ethiopian government is certainly ready for renewable energy sector. In broader sense, the regulatory aspects, policies and frameworks are in place.”

Citing that the general investment environment and the services that the Investment Commission is providing are all in place, he noted that “Ethiopia is ready and open for business.”

According to him, the engagement of the private sector in the renewable energy is absolutely key to use the vast potential that Ethiopia has.

It is important to have the private sector on board to really help them make use of this great opportunity for economic benefits that lay in renewable energy investment opportunities in this country, the executive director stressed .

Regarding the collaboration of African Energy Now and Ethiopia, the director said “we are working hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Water and Energy in Ethiopia.”

Weigel explained that the initiative’s role as “African Energy Now is to bring investment to our partner country Ethiopia through our network of international financial institutions and different types of private and public investors globally.”

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Ethiopian business women said that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would bring multifaceted economic importance to the people of Africa.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Alemtsehai Lelisa, a businesswoman who is engaged in textile manufacturing sector, said the continental free trade area will be very beneficial to the business community in general.

According to her, the youth and women would in particular benefit a lot from AfCFTA as it is a good opportunity for manufacturers to widen market destination for their products.

The businesswoman noted that AfCFTA would undoubtedly bring opportunities for the business community on the continent.

As continental free trade area would bring huge job opportunities for the youth, it can help prevent youth migration to European and other countries, she stated.

“It can also alleviate foreign currency problems among African countries thereby enabling the continent to gain economic independence.’’

Furthermore, it would attract FDI to the continent by bringing in more investors in the manufacturing sector.

Alemtsehai also believes that continental free trade area will encourage manufacturers to produce better quality standards with the view to competing in AfCFTA’s huge market.

The other businesswoman, Gongi Hadia who exports agricultural products said that Ethiopians and other Africans are not well familiar with one another.

AfCFTA would, therefore, create favorable conditions for them to be familiar with one another and bring out what Africa has in terms of resources and other values.

She further stated that continental free trade area has a geographical market advantage as compared with produces that come from other continents like the EU and Asia.

Hadia also pointed out the significance of AfCFTA in import substitution with African products.

Beyond bringing economic benefits to African countries, the continental free trade area would help to enhance knowledge and experience exchange, brotherhood, social and economic integration among the people of Africa, the businesswoman added.

AfCFTA, which is the world’s largest free trade area, brings together some 55 countries of the African continent with a combined GDP of approximately 3.4 trillion USD.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency